Engineering the Future With 3D Software

Take a trip to any industrial technology exhibition, and brace for more sensors than anyone can imagine. From the standard old thermocouples in new sizes and packages to complete low-power wireless cloud based systems, cheap technology has everyone collecting data. The outcome is tremendous amounts of data being collected at any one moment.

Presenting this data in a stomachable way is the challenge. Take Microsoft’s “GeoFlow,” an unfinished project aimed at giving Excel new ways to visualize data. It takes map-based data and lets a user build 3D representations alongside the 2D graphs. From there, users can build upon the 3D data featuring other elements, such as time. For example, population growth over time. Watching hundreds of cities grow in accelerated time is something no 2D graphs can show in such a succinct way.

In a very similar manner, many software companies are now making changes or creating whole new programs to handle the large amounts of data being produced. In general, these large data sets are what are becoming known as “big data.” In fact, big data is now becoming so prevalent, President Obama set aside $200 million in funding earlier this year specifically for big data research and development. These funds are set to be divided among the National Institutes of Health, the Defense and Energy departments, and the US Geological Survey. As a result, some challenges now associated with analyzing, visualizing, storing, and searching big data are being overcome.

One example of showing large amounts of data differently is Steven Uray’s 3D bitcoin price graphs. Bitcoins can be thought of as a all-digital type of currency. Bitcoins can be bought and sold very similar to the way stocks work. The value of a bitcoin varies against the value of modern currency such as the US dollar and the Euro. Additionally, bitcoins are increasingly being used as a type of payment for products and services. Just as owners of stocks look over and check on their investments, owners of bitcoins repeatedly check on the value of their bitcoins.

The 3D price graphs Uray has created uses current data being logged from the bitcoin market and displays it in a 3D format, allowing a deeper and more in-depth look at current trends. Typically, bitcoin graphs consist of two axis, time on the X-axis, and volume/price both displayed on the Y-axis. The difference in using a 3D graph is that blocks can be used to represent data in a clearer way. Each block has a width, depth, and height, which are used to describe three important variables in the bitcoin market.

Furthermore, colors were used to add more information into the graphs. Red cubes represent a time period with average prices lower than the previous time period. Likewise, green cubes represent a period of time with prices higher than the time prior to logging that data. As a result, viewers can easily see trends more readily than they would have if they were looking at a traditional 2D graph.

Cabe, you make a good point. The ability to store and manipulate masses of data is a good thing. The ability to get meaningful information out of them is another story. With improvements in hardware (whcih we all have) this is being addressed by teh systems you mention. It makes for a whole new way of looking at things.

Cabe: I have been in manufacturing since 1964 and I think 3-D printing is the most exciting thing to come along in my working life. In days of old, ie 20th century, an inventor would come into the shop with a model carved from wood and a fist full of drawing and try to explain what he/she wanted to accomplish. Today that same thing can be printed and tweaked until it is right before it ever goes to be hard tooled. Good for everyone but the model maker.

I do take issue with your 3D graphs though. Nothing will lose my interest faster than an Excel spread sheet and what you are describing sounds like that sheet on steroids. My eyes are getting heavy just imagining that.

Tool_Maker. I agree with you completely on this one. I also have been in manufacturing since the late 60's and advances relative to software have been marvelous for "model shop" efforts. Translating wants into specifications and drawings can be a nightmare and is sometimes dependent upon the designer's ability to communicate properly. 3D software, properly used, can lessen the agony during this process. As a coop working my way through the university, I have more than once been a "fly on the wall" as a designer tried explaining to a model maker the ins and outs of his design hoping to gain enough understanding so prototypes can be built.

Virtual Reality (VR) headsets are getting ready to explode onto the market and it appears all the heavy tech companies are trying to out-develop one another with better features than their competition. Fledgling start-up Vrvana has joined the fray.

A Tokyo company, Miraisens Inc., has unveiled a device that allows users to move virtual 3D objects around and "feel" them via a vibration sensor. The device has many applications within the gaming, medical, and 3D-printing industries.

While every company might have their own solution for PLM, Aras Innovator 10 intends to make PLM easier for all company sizes through its customization. The program is also not resource intensive, which allows it to be appropriated for any use. Some have even linked it to the Raspberry Pi.

solidThinking updated its Inspire program with a multitude of features to expedite the conception and prototype process. The latest version lets users blend design with engineering and manufacturing constraints to produce the cheapest, most efficient design before production.

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